


Landstrider

by Dawnweaver



Series: Dreamfast With Me [5]
Category: Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal Series - J.M. Lee, Sanders Sides (Web Series), The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: Animal Attack, Corruption, no one gets hurt its still there, the darkening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:47:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29160651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawnweaver/pseuds/Dawnweaver
Summary: Patton begins his first journey outside of the Spriton Plains.
Series: Dreamfast With Me [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1810300





	Landstrider

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay, I dumped water on my new laptop and didn't have the money to fix it, luckily I had give my old laptop to my dad instead of selling it and he had upgraded it so it would run faster and gave it back when he got a new laptop for himself. So here it is finally, hope you guys like it!

Patton understood why it was called the Darkwood now. The last of three suns had set only an hour ago and everything was pitch black. It was making him nervous. Virgil, used to the darkness in the deep caves of Grot, had taken the lead. Janus, though he didn’t show his nervousness, stuck close to Patton’s side, every once in a while brushing each other’s arms to make sure the other was still there. 

“Perhaps we should stop for the night?” said Janus. “It’s getting late.”

“I think so too,” said Patton, “Virge? Is that okay?”

Virgil sighed and stopped, “Yeah, that’s fine. The trees should filter out enough of the Suns’ light that I won’t be completely blind in the morning.”  
Patton whined in sympathy, he’d forgotten the sunlight hurt Virgil’s eyes. 

“It’s fine, Pat.” Virgil assured. “We should start a fire, so we don’t freeze to death. I’ll gather the wood since I can see the best right now.” 

Patton decided to sit down where he was standing. Janus followed suit as Virgil disappeared into the darkness. “Do you know how far Stone-In-The-Wood is from Sami Thicket?” 

“Should only be a couple days on foot if I remember correctly. Maybe the day after tomorrow?” said Janus.

“Oh, good, this forest creeps me out.”

Janus hummed in response. After a few moments of silence, there was a rustle a little ways away before Virgil emerged from the darkness. He quickly went about setting up the fire and getting it lit. 

“You’re quite efficient at that.” Janus remarked.

“The Grottan are full of tricks. Maybe I’ll teach you some of them eventually.” Virgil said as he settled next to Patton by the fire. 

Patton dug some of their provisions out of his bag to cook over the fire. He’d even packed some seasonings, a little comfort from home. He startled slightly as Seeker slid from Janus’s shoulders to his own drawn to the smell of cooking food. He saw Janus shaking his head at the shenanigans of his muski. 

After supper they laid out their bedrolls to sleep. Seeker abandoned Patton’s shoulders to curl up with Janus. Patton lay awake for a while, he’d slept outside before, but never this far from home, and in an unfamiliar forest on top of that. He couldn’t tell if the others had fallen asleep, he knew Virgil had trouble sleeping even when he was in the safety of Patton’s home, but he didn’t want to risk waking him for that reason as well. The poor thing barely got any rest as is.

Suddenly there was loud rustling just beyond the outskirts of their little camp, just outside the light of the fire. Patton sat up, heart racing, what could it be? In this dark forest it could be any manner of creature. It could even be a Skeksis! That thought made Patton shudder. 

A hand on his shoulder startled him and suppressed a yelp until Virgil whispered, “It’s okay, it’s just me.” 

“Can you see what it is?” Patton heard Janus ask. He glanced over to see the Drenchen had sat up as well. Seeker perched on his shoulders, frills twitching as he stared into the darkness. 

“Not really, if the fire was out maybe, all I can tell is that it’s big.” Virgil said. “I don’t want to put out the fire in case that’s the only thing keeping it at bay.” 

There was more rustling and a long thin leg emerged before the familiar flat face of a creature emerged with it. Patton sighed in relief, “It’s a landstrider.”

He felt more than saw the others relax beside him. Patton stood and walked toward the creature, talking to it softly. “It’s okay, we won’t hurt you…”

The landstrider mooed and took a step back. Patton shushed it, holding out his hands to show it that he didn’t mean any harm and even though he wasn’t touching it, he tried to radiate a sense of calmness for it. But there was something wrong, there was wildness in the landstrider’s eyes, more so than would be expected from even an undomesticated gentle giant. As he looked closer he realized the landstrider had violet glow to it’s eyes, that was strange. He heard Janus suck in a breath behind him. He must have seen it too. “Patton freeze.” 

Patton stopped and glanced at Janus who was staring intently at the landstrider. “Step back slowly towards us, please.” 

Patton looked back at the landstrider, it was obvious there was something wrong and Patton wanted nothing more than to help it but Janus could clearly see something Patton could not. He took a step back slowly as Janus had instructed.

He was halfway back to Virgil and Janus when the creature suddenly bellowed and charged. Patton stood frozen in the path of the landstrider, he yelped when he suddenly hit the ground and realized Virgil had tackled him out of harm's way. He looked up to see Janus jump out of the landstrider’s path as well. The landstrider stopped and turned around to charge again but Virgil had leapt to his feet, grabbing the closest sticks and rocks to throw at the landstrider, before grabbing the cool end of a lit branch from the fire and swinging it wildly at the landstrider. 

“Don’t hurt her!” Patton cried, even though the creature was doing its best to hurt them. The landstrider bellowed again and reared before it turned tail and fled, crashing through the undergrowth. 

“Are you guys okay?” Virgil asked, holding out a hand to help Patton up from the ground. 

“I think so.” Patton said shakily. 

“A little bruised but I’m fine.” Janus said as he stood and brushed off his clothes. Patton hugged himself, he’d never seen a landstrider act like that before, except when protecting their young, and even then they rarely attacked Gelfling for that. 

“Why would she attack us like that?” Patton asked.

“You saw her eyes, yeah?” Janus asked, “They had that weird purple glow to them? She’s infected. I’ve seent it before in the Sog, the nebrie that gave me this.” He gestured to his face.

“I’ve seen it too.” said Virgil, “Some of the nurlocks in caves of Grot have become vicious. I heard that one had attacked a gelfling and tore her wing not long before the...before I left.” 

“But...what could have caused it?” Patton asked sadly. 

“You saw the vision that those petals that snowed everywhere brought, didn’t you?” Janus said. “There’s something wrong with the Crystal of Truth, the Skeksis corrupted it and the corruption is spreading. First in the plants and now into the animals.” 

“But...Maudra Mera said-” 

“Maudra Mera is too afraid of the Skeksis to say anything against them even when the truth is right in front of her face.” Virgil rubbed at the back of his neck. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier but I didn’t want to upset her anymore than my presence in Sami Thicket already had.” 

“No, no...you’re right.” Patton sighed, “She didn’t used to be that way but then Gelfling started disappearing and after that the census started. Any strangers that came through were to be suspected and strange things like those petals or animals acting weird were just tests set by the Skeksis. This is the first time I’ve seen a poor landstrider act like that though, it’s obvious there’s something seriously wrong.” 

There was silence for a little while as the three of them took a moment to allow what just happened to sink in. The silence was loud, the sound of creatures of the night in the darkness outside of their little circle of light the only sound. 

Janus finally cleared his throat, “Well, while we can, if we can, we should get some more rest. It’s still a long way to Stone-In-The-Wood.” 

Patton sighe,d “You’re right. But..can we all sleep closer together? I think I’d feel more comfortable that way.”

Virgil gave him a small smile. “Of course, Pat.” 

The three of them shook the dest from their bedrolls and moved them closer together before laying down side by side, Janus on one side, Virgil on the other, and Patton in the middle. Hesitantly, Patton reached out to hold each of their hands. Virgil was used to this by now and allowed to take Patton without fuss but Janus moved his hand back at first, unsure, but after a moment he moved it back and allowed Patton to take his as well.


End file.
